(11-14) 13:43 PST SAN JOSE -- The man accused of murdering Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar was charged Tuesday with the attempted kidnappings of three women in 2009.

Antolin Garcia-Torres, 21, allegedly tried to kidnap and carjack three women, one of whom he accosted with a stun gun, said Sean Webby, media coordinator for the Santa Clara County district attorney's office.

Garcia-Torres' name surfaced as a suspect in those cases after he was arrested in the slaying of LaMar, 15, whose body hasn't been found.

Sheriff Laurie Smith said shortly after his arrest that forensic evidence linked him to at least one of the 2009 assaults, which occurred in the parking lot of a Safeway store in Morgan Hill where the defendant had worked.

Garcia-Torres was charged as a juvenile in the 2009 cases. But at a hearing Tuesday, a judge determined that it was more appropriate for Garcia-Torres to face those charges, along with the murder allegation, in adult court, Webby said.

Sierra was last seen March 16 in her home in an unincorporated area near Morgan Hill. Authorities say she was kidnapped and killed by Garcia-Torres, whom she did not know.

Investigators followed Garcia-Torres for weeks before arresting him May 21, hoping he would lead them to Sierra's body. He has been charged with murder with the special circumstance of murder in the course of a kidnapping, which could lead to life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty if he is convicted.

Garcia-Torres, who is being held without bail, has not entered a plea and is to return to court Dec. 10.